Before you sit down, let me greet you with the Easter
greeting. He is risen.
Amen. Take a seat.
I'm going to jump right into the Easter story and the passage of
Scripture. Actually, that that very
greeting comes from is found in Luke chapter 24.
You can read along with me if you have a Bible that says.
Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning,
they and certain other women with them came to the tomb,
bringing the spices which they had prepared.
But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed, that behold,
2 men stood by them in shining garments.
Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth,
they said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, but he is risen. Amen.
This powerful phrase is a traditional Easter greeting
dating back to centuries ago and it is now being said around the
world right now in over 1500 different languages.
Christians and Christian tradition and cultures that have
Christian roots are going from language to language and country
to country. Greeting each other this morning
with the powerful route reality that Christ has defeated the
grave and it's really the Easter message in those three words.
I don't know if I can add anything to it other than point
out the necessity for it. So the title of this Easter
sermon is The Power of 3 Words. And I think you'll probably
notice that 3 words can pack a lot of meaning over the course
of the message. Think in times of your life
where your life is completely shifted, turned upside down,
been given new direction because of three simple words.
Think of the first time that someone said to you I love you
in a romantic and meaningful way and what a life changing that
moment was. Think of the time that you
received one of those messages that maybe feels like something
else. Can we talk?
3 words that could be anything but you know that they're going
to be life changing 3 words. We are over 3 words I am lost
and maybe 3 words to define where you're at in your own
spirituality or where you've come from.
Where is God or why? Me, God and all of those
represent in such powerful, concise packaging the course of
your history getting turned upside down.
And today we celebrate 3 words that did indeed turn the world's
history upside down. With those 3 words, He has
risen, the entire world has shifted, and a movement from
Jesus to His disciples to the church to worldwide has started
with those 3 words being preached as the focal message
that have changed countless lives.
And when they are believed, those words can change any life
in this place right now. It isn't a matter of if they
have power, but whether or not you actually believe it.
A recent survey revealed that 66% of Americans actually
believe the biblical accounts of Jesus resurrection that we just
read physical resurrection moment in history.
But startingly, the the the startling news is that only
about half of that number strongly believe it.
So they believe it is history, they just don't believe it with
their life. So welcome to Easter Sunday,
where many of you believe it is history, you believe it is
tradition, you believe it as religion.
You just don't believe it with your life.
Because so often there is a complete breakdown between our
confession and our conviction. So the sermon could stop at
those 3 words. But since you're all here, we'll
continue. And I want to just point out
what it would look like if the world had not been turned upside
down by the reality of a resurrection.
What does it look like in the world where some of you
currently dwell where Christ practically has not given you
the power of his very own resurrection?
And for this we can actually look to the word because the
apostle Paul wrote a letter to a church in Corinth wrestling with
the question of the resurrection.
And so as he lays out the evidence of the resurrection and
the philosophical thought for the resurrection, he also lays
out an alternative world where the resurrection doesn't happen.
And in that world we can see the grave consequences of if Easter
is just a myth. So if you have a Bible, once
again you can turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 starting
in verse 14. This is just a thought
experiment, but I find it a helpful 1.
He says if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and
our faith also is empty. He goes on to say yes, and we're
found to be false witnesses of God going around preaching this
message that Christ has conquered the grave, and if he
has it, the message is hopeless. In other words, if the tomb is
not empty, the Christian message is, and so is any faith that you
would put inside of it. Theologian John Stott says the
person and work of Christ are the rock upon which the
Christian religion is built. If he is not who he said he was,
and if Jesus did not do what he said he had come to do, namely
to pay for the sins of the world by dying on the cross and
conquering death by rising on the third day, if this never
happened, the foundation is undermined and the whole
superstructure will collapse. So let me speak to some of you
who are not regular church attenders.
And you have your own critiques of Christianity, and I'm sure a
lot of them are valid. I just want to help help you
make sure that you have the right first and foremost
critique. Because first and foremost, your
critique should not be that you just don't like Christians.
Welcome to the club. We sometimes don't like each
other. We're working on that.
That's why we meet every Sunday to talk about it.
Your critique of Christianity cannot just be and should not be
that you don't like the ethics. How Jesus taught us to treat one
another and to wait on him and to endure this world.
You may not like the ethics, but if Christ conquered the grave,
you might want to listen to him about how your life was
designed. And your critique should not
just be well, what about all the other religions?
Because today we find ourselves standing alone on a claim that
no other religion makes. If the bones of Buddha were
presented to us, Buddhism would be fine.
If the bones of Muhammad were discovered and the grave was was
seen, Islam would move on and on down the line.
Moses, if you find his grave, there's no problem with
celebrating Judaism. Joseph Smith, whoever the
religious leader is, they can die and the movement is not
dependent on their life. But with Christianity, if there
is no Christ, there is no message.
If Christ is dead, Christianity is a dead end.
And so for those of you who are visiting, you picked the perfect
weekend because it all hinges on today.
If the reality of the resurrection is true, you have
to bend your knee to Christ. And if it isn't, go to Barnes
and Noble. Buy a self help book and enjoy
the rest of your Sundays because the message is hopeless.
Not only is the message hopeless as Paul will continue to play
out this thought experiment. It says in the next verse.
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile and you are
still in your sins. Yes, you have come to church to
hear that the problem with the world and the problem with your
world is that God had created you to live according to his
design and His ways and His will.
We call that righteousness, and all of us have fallen short of
that standard. Sin is the problem.
In the early 1900's, the Times of London reportedly sent out a
question to several authors and writers and thinkers of the day,
and it was simple. What is wrong with the world?
And of course, being a newspaper, I'm sure they were
expecting to find a large word count of essays and proses about
politics and society and economics.
Maybe tariffs, maybe not. Maybe morality, maybe all of the
problems that breakdown in neighborhoods and the crumbling
issues of each city specifically, but one response
was the clear winner. It simply said, dear sirs, I am
yours truly, GK Chesterton, famous Christian theologian.
He in one simple phrase, could diagnose what is wrong with
every city, every country, every world, including your world.
The problem with the world is that there is a sin problem and
every single one of us have been sinned against, which I'm sure
you'll you'll be happy to point out.
And you have been the offender as well.
And the whole mission of religion is try is trying to
understand how to make right with that.
How do we make right with a holy God as a sinful people?
And the message of Jesus, unique amongst all other answers is
that God himself would provide a way for people to be cleansed.
That there is no Easter message without a Good Friday where
Christ hangs on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of the
world, which is death. But if He did not rise, then
death conquered the Savior, and a dead Savior will not save you.
It doesn't matter how loud you sing or how loud you plea.
If Christ remains in the grave, then you are still looking for
an answer to your sins. Not only is the message hopeless
and we have no hope for the cleansing of our sins, we also
have no hope in death. He continues to write.
Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
Now just that one sentence is full of theology.
There is a Christian tradition that has now been part of
everyday language. Every time you use the word
cemetery, you are dating back to the early Christian traditions
that believe those who died were only sleeping.
Cemetery means resting place where the body would die and
wait in rest for a resurrection when Christ who raised from the
grave would then give life to the mortal bodies for those who
are in Christ by faith. And it is a faith statement to
say that those who have died are only sleeping.
Anyone who believes in Jesus is their body is sleeping until the
final day when he raises those who have put their faith in him.
But if Christ has not raised, then sin has not been dealt with
and death has not been defeated. And those who have put their
faith in Christ, or anything else for that matter, have no
reason to believe that there is life beyond this life.
He says that those who have died are perished.
That means expired for good. And let me share my experience
as a pastor who gets the joy of standing on this very stage in a
similar setting, flowers and people who are dressed nicer
than usual coming to a funeral. And I've done countless funerals
over my years of being a pastor. And I have to say, there is no
better place to preach an Easter message than to those who are
weeping the sorrow of love lost in the face of death.
And over the years of preaching those messages, I find the
audience to be very indiscriminate in what they're
willing to receive that day. Meaning, you don't have to be a
believer in Jesus or a Christian when you come to the funeral.
Ignited inside of your heart is the reality that we know that
death is not supposed to win. The Bible says in the book of
Ecclesiastes that God has written eternity on our hearts
and because our hearts long for eternity, every time someone
dies it feels wrong. God created us to live with him
forever and when we face death, we are meant to have something
that stares in the face of death and says you will not win.
But if death did win, if God sent his son into the world and
the son remained dead, we have no hope for the funeral.
And the funeral awaits all of us.
Every funeral you go to is just a preview of your own.
It comes quite unexpectedly when you're least expecting it.
And every single one of you have to give an answer to the
eternity that is written in your heart for how you live this life
with any hope that it is not the end.
We have no hope in the message of Christ if He did not rise.
We have no hope that our sins could be forgiven if He did not
rise. We have no hope in the face of
death if He did not rise. And we have no hope in very life
itself, he finally says, if in this life only we have hope in
Christ, we of all men are the most to be pitied.
I have heard it said, and maybe you have thought this yourself,
that even if Easter was a myth, even if Jesus was just a good
idea passed down from the hands of historians that were well
meaning, surely we can say that his moral teaching is worth
clinging to. Anyone who reads the Sermon on
the Mount and reads the ethics of Jesus and his vision for a
community of people to live together and love together and
self sacrifice could see a vision for any family or any
city or any government to build a foundation upon regardless of
the reality of a resurrection. And yet the Apostle Paul says
that that is foolishness, that if you put your faith in Christ
and his ways and live your life as though this is a reality, the
resurrection is real, a truth of history, and it's not.
The world should feel sorry for you and it stands to reason.
Read the Sermon on the Mount and read it with no hope of any
reward after this life. Why on earth if someone slapped
your cheek would you turn to give them another?
If there is no God of justice. If there is no final reward
where you will endure suffering and for the end when you can be
greeted with the beautiful phrase well done, good and
faithful servant. If there is no reward for giving
the shirt off your back to someone in need, there is no
finality and end of the story that is good and not just death.
Why would you do that? Why would you go the extra mile
when an enemy to asks you to carry his bags for one?
If there is no final reward to any of this, Paul will go on to
point out the absurdity of living this life with any sense
of duty to the fellow man or idea that you'd be rewarded for
how you live. In the same chapter he says if
the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink and be merry, for
tomorrow we die. Live it up today, tomorrow you
die and that's that. One person said live like a live
like a hog and die like a dog. There's no point and we could
expound upon what he said. Lie, cheat and be greedy.
For tomorrow you die and that's that.
Worry, despair and be hopeless. For tomorrow you die and that's
that. Scroll swipe and be numb to it
all. For tomorrow you die and that is
that. Because life has no meaning.
There's no end to the story. If Christ did not rise, this is
all you'll ever going to have. The Christian message would be
hopeless. There is no hope for sin, there
is no hope for death, and there is no hope for life.
And as I preach that on Resurrection Sunday, it all
seems patently wrong. How dare we speak of such
hopelessness in the face of the resurrection reality.
And that is why, as you continue to read this letter that Paul
wrote, so everyone would know, he says, but now.
But now Christ is risen from the dead and he has become the first
fruits for those who have fallen asleep.
He's become the preview, the pattern of what's to come for
everyone who have put their faith and their trust and their
life into his hands. His ending becomes your ending,
His beginning becomes your beginning and that is why there
is no one like him. As we saying, there is nothing
in the world like the celebration of God sending His
Son into the world, defeating sin and death, leaving in the
grave and coming out the victor so that we could say there is
power in our God. And we now stand 2025 years
later in a line of history defined by the resurrection of
Christ, when death reigned and when death was defeated.
And I once again sympathize and speak to those of you who come
here as skeptics or feeling as outsiders not yet convinced of
the message of the reality of death being defeated for all of
humanity to hear the message of the gospel.
Because it is hard to prove or falsify an event from 2025 years
ago. If you are interested, if God is
prompting you to to seek him still, I encourage you to read
the entirety of First Corinthians 15.
It is Paul's defense of the resurrection.
He starts with the historical witnesses, those who experienced
him, the disciples who went from disbelief to belief because they
encountered him. Paul shares of his own
testimony, an enemy of Christ won by the encounter he had with
the living Christ. He speaks of 500 people who saw
him at once, witnesses that at the time could have been asked
to give their account. But even without the historical
evidence, without you being there yourself, there is a way
for you to encounter the power of the resurrection here and
now. I like what CS Lewis says about
why he believes in Christianity. He says I believe in
Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only
because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
Says I believe in Christianity like I believe the sun has
risen. Yes, I can see it rise, but once
it rises, it shines light on everything else.
And that same perspective can be used to confirm the reality of
the resurrection. Not just because it happened,
yes, it happened, but because it happened, you can now see
everything else. Consider everything we found
hopeless apart from Christ raising from the grave.
Now experienced by all of you who believe because Christ is
risen, you can experience the power of the gospel, The
Christian message. You can experience well that
when the Lord allows you to sit under the power of the message,
you can receive it in your heart and it can in fact change your
life. You can receive the power of the
Holy Spirit. Romans chapter 8 verse 11 says,
but if the Spirit of him who was raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also
give life to your immortal bodies through his Spirit who
dwells in you. You can go from powerless
message to the power of the gospel by the indwelling of the
Spirit that gives life to your life.
Now because he is risen, you can experience the forgiveness of
all of your sins. No doubt when sins are
mentioned, one of the reasons it makes us uncomfortable is
because we're really good at keeping our record.
Some of you know what you've done, some of you know what
you're doing. Jesus says anyone who sins is a
slave to sin. And you can spend your whole
life wrestling with the things that you do that you don't want
to do that add the burden of guilt and shame to your life.
But since He has risen, you can experience the chains of sin
being broken. And how many of us stand here
celebrating the power of the resurrection with an encounter
of being set free from the power of sin to live in the power of
Christ? Ephesians chapter 1 says in Him
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace.
I've heard it said the cross of Christ is the payment and the
resurrection of Christ is the receipt.
Our sins are paid in full. No one has to leave here
burdened by their mistakes and their failures, feeling
separated from God and people. You can experience the reality
of the resurrection by experiencing the reality of
freedom from sin. And because he is risen, you can
experience hope in the face of death.
Paul will go on to write a promise that all of you sit
under as we celebrate Easter looking back on a moment in
history. We celebrate Easter looking
forward for a future moment of history.
And that is when in First Thessalonians chapter 4, it says
that the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of an Archangel, and with the trumpet
of God. And the dead in Christ will
rise. And you can know that reality
now. You can go through the pain of a
lost loved one and know that if they are in Christ, you will see
them again. You can receive that for your
own life. And the fear of headline news
and the death that plagues our world does not have to be a fear
you live in because you have a vision for life afterlife.
Because He has risen, you have a reward for your faith, that you
can listen to the teachings of Jesus, you can live the Sermon
on the Mount, you can suffer in this life for the joy of the
life to come. As Jesus was approaching the
cross, he says in this world you'll have much trouble and I
don't. You don't need a preacher to
tell you that in this world you will have much trouble.
Amen. But Jesus says, take heart, I've
overcome. And today we stand on the
reality that He has overcome death.
What else plagued your life that he cannot overcome?
3 words that will change your life. 3 words that changed the
course of the history of our world. 3 words that have changed
so many of you, from death to life, from hopelessness to hope.
Are you ready? He is risen. 3 words.
He is risen. Amen.